Soul Returns to Hong Kong: From Tailor Shop to Richest Woman

When Lin Ying drove back to the villa, it was already dark. The two entered one after the other. Lin Lanying was sitting on the sofa feeding Zaozao rice cereal, while He Dazhu was playing with a rattle next to her.

Seeing the two return, Lin Lanying said, "You're back. The food is warming up in the pot. Go get some for yourself."

Wen Xu changed his shoes and walked straight to the sofa. He looked down at Zaozao, whose mouth was covered with rice cereal. Zaozao looked at him with her round eyes, then stretched out her chubby hand and grabbed Wen Xu's index finger.

Lin Ying stood in the entryway taking off her coat, thinking to herself, "This man must have been working so hard at the factory this afternoon; he's bound to be overflowing with fatherly love by now."

Wen Xu simply grabbed a tissue to wipe the fruit puree from Zaozao's mouth, then stood up and walked over to Lin Ying: "Ying, come with me for a moment."

Lin Ying raised an eyebrow and followed him up to the bedroom on the second floor.

As soon as the door closed, Wen Xu opened his military green suitcase, pulled out a small notebook from the bottom compartment, and slapped it directly into Lin Ying's hand.

"What?" Lin Ying looked down and saw a passbook and a bank card.

"My salary card, and all the project bonuses I've received from the institute over the past few years, are all in there. The password is your birthday."

Lin Ying opened the bankbook and saw the amount; it was an absolute fortune for an ordinary family. She closed the bankbook and stuffed it back into Wen Xu's hand along with the bank card: "No need to give it to me. Keep your money safe."

Wen Xu frowned: "That's the rule."

"Whose rule is this?" Lin Ying found it amusing. "Do you think I need your little bit of money? The cash sitting in my account right now earns more interest every day than the amount in your passbook."

"What's yours is yours." Wen Xu refused to take the bankbook. "Now that we're together and have a child, I'll have to manage the household expenses. If you don't spend this money, just leave it there. When she grows up early, you can use it to pay for her tuition."

Looking at his serious expression, Lin Ying realized that this genius, who could lead a national-level scientific research project and whose mind was full of numbers and circuits, was being stubbornly endearing at this moment.

"Okay." Lin Ying was too lazy to refuse him and threw the bankbook into the drawer of the dressing table. "Zaozao's allowance will come from here from now on."

Wen Xu looked relaxed and turned to go to the bathroom to wash his hands.

After dinner, Lin Ying was in the study looking at the recruitment progress report for this month that Zhang Jing had faxed over; halfway through, she heard early crying coming from the nursery next door.

Lin Ying put down her pen and was about to get up when Wen Xu strode over and picked up Zaozao. Zaozao was crying loudly, kicking her arms and legs wildly. Instead of holding and comforting her as usual, Wen Xu carried the child directly to the door of Lin Lanying's bedroom on the first floor and knocked on the door.

Lin Lanying opened the door and was stunned to see her son-in-law holding her granddaughter standing at the door.

Wen Xu said sincerely, "Mom, Zaozao was in a bad mood tonight. She kept staring in the direction of your room. She must be missing you. Aying and I didn't take good care of her. Please take care of her tonight."

After saying that, without waiting for Lin Lanying's reaction, he decisively handed the child to his mother-in-law and turned to go upstairs.

Lin Lanying stood there holding her sobbing granddaughter, and it took her a few seconds to react: "If you want some alone time as a couple, just say so! What kind of excuse is this, using the child!"

In the bedroom on the second floor, Lin Ying had just returned to her room when Wen Xu locked the door and turned to walk over.

"Where's the child?" Lin Ying asked.

"I'm asleep." Wen Xu unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt collar.

Lin Ying walked to the window and listened to the faint sound of Lin Lanying soothing a child coming from downstairs: "Are you kidding me?"

Wen Xu pulled her into his arms and leaned down to look at her, instantly closing the distance between them; his breath carried a faint scent of soap.

"Boss Lin, I only have two months of leave. I don't want to talk about projects tonight, nor do I want to just bring my child."

Before Lin Ying could speak, Wen Xu lowered his head and sealed her lips with a kiss; after a long separation, all restraint and composure crumbled at this moment.

The night was deep, and even the wind had stopped.

------

For the next few days, Wen Xu spent his days in the research and development building, and when he got home in the evening, he would first spend half an hour with Lin Ying before playing with Zaozao. He had adjusted this order very well, and there were no more problems.

In mid-March, the display driver board was finalized and entered the second round of verification. Wen Xu would squat in front of the lab bench for three or four hours at a time, holding an oscilloscope probe and staring at the waveform without saying a word.

Chen Jian, watching from the side, looked a little nervous: "Engineer Wen, isn't this waveform a bit off?"

Wen Xu adjusted the trigger level: "It's off by 0.3 volts; your reference voltage isn't stable enough."

Chen Jian quickly flipped through the circuit diagram: "I'm using a linear regulator, so it shouldn't be like this..."

"When the load on your downstream stage changes, the upstream stage can't keep up," Wen Xu said, pointing to a capacitor on the circuit board. "Try replacing this one with one that's twice the size."

Chen Jian immediately replaced the capacitor, re-powered it on, and the waveform stabilized.

Liu Yang, carrying his lunchbox, passed by and, seeing this scene, remarked, "When Engineer Wen was here, I always felt like my brain was rented, and it was time to return it."

Liu Ya also noticed that Wen Xu's demeanor this time was different from before; in the past, when he came to the factory to help, he mostly reviewed plans, offered opinions, and pointed out directions. This time, he got directly involved, personally overseeing every step from circuit design to parameter calibration, from signal links to heat dissipation layout.

One afternoon, Liu Ya walked up to Wen Xu with a set of comparative data, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Engineer Wen, what's your level in the institute now? Chief Engineer, right?"

Wen Xu's pen didn't stop: "No."

Liu Ya was somewhat surprised: "No? Then what are you doing now...?"

"I'll lead the team myself." Wen Xu didn't even look up, turning to the next page of the test report in his hand. "I'll be the project manager, I'll determine the technical direction, and I'll manage the team."

Liu Yang peeked over from next door: "Isn't that just the chief engineer? He's just changed the name?"

Wen Xu slammed the report shut and glanced at him: "It's different. The chief engineer is an administrative rank, I'm on a project-based system. Once a project is completed, I'm just a regular researcher; once the next project is approved, I lead the team."

Liu Yang curled his lip: "Isn't this even more tiring than being the chief engineer? At least the chief engineer has a guaranteed income regardless of the situation, but you have to take on the next job after finishing one."

Wen Xu ignored him and turned to ask Liu Ya, "What is that set of data you have?"

Liu Ya handed over the report: "Color deviation test of the monitor panels, third batch of samples. The average DeltaE is 4.2, with the worst one reaching 6.1."

Wen Xu took it and looked at it for a few seconds: "Which piece is 6.1?"

"Number seventeen."

"Have you checked the thickness of the fluorescent coating?"

"I checked, and the thickness deviation is within the allowable range."

Wen Xu flipped the data sheet over and wrote a few numbers on the back: "That's a problem with the sintering temperature. Have Li Jia retrieve the sintering parameters for batch number seventeen and compare them with the qualified batch."

Liu Ya took the report and went out.

Chen Jian leaned closer and whispered to Liu Yang, "Is Engineer Wen even more capable than when he last came?"

Liu Yang thought for a moment and said, "He gets worse every time he comes. I've gotten used to it, but I'm starting to feel more and more unworthy of eating here."

Chen Jian thought that made sense: "Then why don't you skip lunch today?"

Liu Yang turned and glared at him: "I'm just being modest! You really want me to go hungry?"

Around 5 p.m., Lin Ying came to the R&D building to find Wen Xu and saw him sitting in front of the whiteboard writing formulas, with Liu Yang and Chen Jian each holding a notebook and copying them down.

"It's time to go back." Lin Ying knocked on the door frame.

Wen Xu put down his pen and circled the last line of formula on the whiteboard in red: "You two need to derive this yourselves tomorrow. Don't come to me if you can't."

Liu Yang muttered, "If we can't get it out, who do we turn to? God?"

Wen Xu picked up his coat and left the R&D building with Lin Ying. The two walked side by side on the road in the factory area, the sun already setting behind the factory buildings in the west.

Lin Ying glanced at him sideways: "Are you under a lot of pressure leading the team now?"

Wen Xu: "It's alright; it's just that we don't have enough people. There are few good prospects, and even fewer who can stand on their own."

"If you come to work for me, won't people gossip about you when you go back?"

Wen Xu chuckled: "What are you talking about? I provide technical guidance to private enterprises; my application report is clearly written and approved by the leadership. Besides, what you're doing isn't shameful."